Now you have to sign up to access the Google groups archives.

Hmmmm...not that big of a deal, as "signing up" is not much different than "subscribing" when using an nntp-protocol app. And it *may* possibly cut down on the spam and cross-posting.

I doubt Google will ever resort to being a "paid" service. Advertisers pay big bucks to be seen on Google. Becoming a paid-service would drop the google traffic immensely. The advertisers would not appreciate that.

i think we/ve seen the reason google might want to know who's in it's archives. now if they can stop the alterations....